China Focus: China has wisdom to share on rural development, governance

By Xinhua writer Cui Li

A report by a group from Tongji University in Shanghai was released during the UN-Habitat Assembly from June 5 to 9 in Nairobi, Kenya. It is about a case study on rural revitalization and net-zero carbon development in Dinghai District of Zhoushan City, Zhejiang, that may provide valuable lessons for low-carbon rural development.

   Bruno Dercon, officer-in-charge of the UN-Habitat Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, said in the report that despite rapid urbanization worldwide, 40 percent of the global population still resides in rural areas, and the pathways and cases of rural revitalization and zero-carbon development in Dinghai can provide valuable experience for rural low-carbon development in other small islands and coastal areas.

   Charles Onunaiju, director of the Abuja-based Center for China Studies, said China’s Green Rural Revival Program represents a comprehensive and forward-thinking approach to addressing the environmental and socio-economic challenges faced by rural areas. By promoting sustainable development, ecological conservation and poverty alleviation, the program has the potential to bring about positive and transformative changes in rural communities, he added.

   Vincent Kitio, chief of UN-Habitat’s Urban Energy Unit, said that China’s experience in the Green Rural Revival program, which combines rural revitalization with carbon reduction and emissions control, thus achieving green development, is worth emulating by developing countries in Africa.